Edwards’ tax package takes another hit; bills rejected

BATON ROUGE — Lawmakers on the House tax committee Tuesday rejected a package of income tax changes pushed by Gov. John Bel Edwards that were projected to cut Louisiana taxes for most individuals by shifting a higher tax burden to businesses.

The decisions by the majority-Republican Ways and Means Committee dealt another blow to the Democratic governor’s effort to rewrite Louisiana tax laws to help end cycles of budget shortfalls and address the looming expiration of $1.3 billion in annual tax collections in mid-2018.

Edwards already had shelved his main business tax proposal rather than face certain defeat from the committee. The